Sonata of The Shattered | Book I

Heart to Heart

20 May 2022

It was early in the morning when Melissa saw her husband sitting by the pool while enjoying his cup of coffee along with the view of the sunrise. Though there's no love between both but only a mere comfortable feeling that grew along with the time they spent together under the vow of marriage, still, she respects the man as he should be.

Clayton has always been a great husband figure to her, though they never exchanged the feeling called love. He let her be with the man he loves so dearly and the same with him as well, though she never saw him doing so. She knew that his heart belonged to a woman from the past that he once talked about but never mentioned the name or the details. Leaving her with no clue of who that lucky woman is.

But then, today when he's asleep, she borrowed his phone to look up a picture they took months ago. There, she saw a picture of a beautiful woman in her mid-forties, smiling so beautifully. Immediately, a praise and compliment slipped from the deepest part of her heart. She never saw him saving a picture of a woman on his phone and this was his first.

Then, she decided to lock his phone after he saw a text sent by his brother-in-law, step brother of Clayton, Henry. A notification popped up with a name being mentioned there; Fransesca Adelaidine. 'Was she the woman he fell for years?', she wondered as she tried to act as if she read nothing on his phone.

The main thing she wanted to talk to him today, aside of Fransesca, was her condition. Her health condition in which Clayton worried. He told her that she looks pretty pale these days and she kept losing her weight, the one thing that Melissa agreed with. He insisted on taking her to the doctor for a check up and the result came up pretty devastating, yet she knew that this day would come eventually, though hers came sooner.

Of course, she discussed the matter with her lover; Tolentino. The lover who was welcomed with kindness and sincerity by Clayton. He even apologized to the man for marrying Melissa, as they're stuck in an arranged relationship and couldn't do anything to solve the problem but to stay married, yet living a separate private life. Tolentino even told Melissa that Clayton should've been the first one to know the news besides him, and so she did.

"Clayton?" she called him softly as she sat herself next to the man, smiling at him. Clayton returned the smile and wrapped his right arm around her waist. "Come, sit with me and enjoy the beautiful sunrise view from here. Do you have any plans with Tolentino today?" asked the man.

Melissa shook her head. "No, I have no plans with him. But I have an important plan today and it's to talk with you regarding my check up result."

His head slowly turned to the right, facing the woman. Wanting to hear what his wife wanted to tell him at the very moment. "What is it, Melissa? I'll try to give you what I can. Tell me what's the result and why are your eyes so teary?" he responded with a question as well.

Melissa took a deep breath, trying her best to hold back her tears. She accepted the result wholeheartedly, sincerely, yet still, it gave her pain in the heart. She couldn't bear to hide it from Clayton much longer so she tried her best to announce the devastating news to the man. To the man whom he was supposed to love as a wife and husband. To the man who kept her safe and let her love the one she put her heart into.

"I'm diagnosed with stage four of stomach cancer and they said there's nothing that they can do to cure me. I accepted my fate and the diagnosis as well. Tolentino was the first to know, you are the second. I have two wishes from you and I hope you can make it come true."

Upon hearing the devastating news, Clayton's heart stopped beating. He put down his coffee to his left and quickly hugged the woman who's legally still his wife, as tight as he could. Tears fell from his cheeks as he heard that she's diagnosed with cancer... and soon she'll leave him all alone, as well as Tolentino.

"We can try to look for an option, Melissa. I'll talk about it with Tolentino as well, perhaps? We'll find you a doctor and therapy that could cure you from this sickness. Every disease has its own remedy and I believe, somewhere in this world, there's a cure to what you're suffering from. Please, don't lose your hope, okay?" he replied, trying to convince the woman that he'll do his best as a husband, though only by status.

"That's my wish, Clayton." Melissa shook her head as he wiped her tears away. "I don't want to be cured. Realistically speaking, it's my end. I don't want to undergo painful treatments and surgery with no fixed result. I want to spend the rest of my days peacefully." she told him. The most painful decision she ever made and told someone.

Clayton bit his lower lips. Never he thought for once that the woman who's been there as his wife on paper (only) would leave him so soon. Death was indeed cruel, and so cancer.

"I borrowed your phone earlier and I saw this beautiful woman with the name Fransesca Adelaidine, kept in your gallery. Soon, I realize that the woman must be the one you're in love with all these times. Is it true, Clayton?" Melissa Liu Mary asked, in which the man replied with a nod. "She's the one. I saw her unintentionally that day during my guest lecture at the National University of Singapore." Clayton replied.

"You've always wanted a child but I can't give you one. You've always wondered how being loved feels like yet I can't give you and you know that you can't give me either. I know that you've always wanted things that the situation doesn't allow us to do so," Melissa paused. "Will you let me meet her, Clayton? Will you let me meet Fransesca? There's still a chance for you both to be together, right? To be in a relationship where you are loved. A relationship in which you can have your own child. You still have a long way in life and I want to do my best to repay your kindness the past fifteen years, Clay. I want to reunite you with that woman. That Fransesca you're still in love with."

Clayton shook his head. "You don't need to, Melissa. You don't need to do so. Just make sure that you keep yourself strong and healthy all the time for me, okay?" he smiled at her, knowing that her big heart couldn't even reunite him with Fransesca no matter what. She's married and a mother already. No matter how much he wanted to be with the woman, he just couldn't and it will be a waste of time, a heartbreak and burden as well for Melissa to think or take care in her final days of this life.

"No, I insist. I insist on doing it, Clayton. You deserve everything and I believe you can be with her."

"No, Mel. She's a mother already. She must've been married to someone whom she loves!"

"What if she divorced? What if she's a single mother?"

Clayton never thought of the possibilities that suddenly silenced him, but he quickly replied with pessimism. "No, Mel. She's the type of person who'll love someone so dearly. She must've married a man that stole her heart from the first sight. You don't need to look or reach her out. Loving her in silence, from afar, is the best way for me to love her." Clayton refused her idea.

"You don't need to do anything to Fransesca, me, or someone else. We've separated and I think this is how fate wanted us to be. Separated, never together. So, let me take care of you in your final days. Let me help you with all that I can along with Tolentino. Whatever you want, let me know, okay? Pray to Him that this disease would go away from your body, even if things seem impossible. Miracle do happens."

Melissa wiped her tears away and gazed into his eyes deeply.

'Even if you refused and rejected my idea, I'll try to meet her for you, Clayton. I'll talk to her and see what I can do for you. I'll try my best to repay your kindness, now and forever.', she smiled at him emotionally and patted his back.

"I'll be okay. Don't worry."

Melissa told him and stood up from the side of the pool, walking herself back into the house. A huge burden in her heart had been relieved. Next? Trying to find someone for Clayton. The one who'll keep him happy and content, of being loved and in love.

to be continued.